How To Flash RTX Video Card BIOS To A Different Series

[biffzinker]

"For a few generations now, NVIDIA has been slowly changing how traditional overclocking has been achieved. It used to be a simple process of increasing the video card's clock speed and that was it. With NVIDIA's Turing generation of GPUs, that has changed for the worse. Not only is the BIOS encrypted, but NVIDIA has also gone to great lengths to make sure the Founders Edition and OC (overclocked) editions are the top performers on the market. On top of releasing two variants of the same GPU (A and Non-A), the BIOS restricts the Power Target Limit and makes a difference how far a card can overclock.

As much as I resisted the urge to write this article, I felt people have to right to do what the want with hardware they purchase. This is very risky and can easily result in a bricked video card. Just keep that in mind."

Source: Overclockers Club

Has anybody done this yet?

 

[Kawarius]

I have done it with my RTX 2080TI.
There is a patched NVflash version that let's you flash Turing cards.

And for the 2080ti, kfa2/Galax released one of their reference pcb cards with a 300 watt default limit, and 380 watt max limit. This is usually the go to bios for reference pcb overclocking, as this gives a limit even higher than ftw3 (by 7 watts).

Usually the air coolers have a tough time handling the extra heat, but watercooled card I would do it in a heartbeat. Running it myself on my custom loop, and haven't had any issues. With the extra headroom, I hit 1965-1985mhz core without adding anything on core clocks.

 

[er557]

does galax has a model like that for gtx 1080, would it potentially increase power limit and would the twin acx 3.0 coolers of evga handle it fine?
What about fan profiles that need to match/ I did get a bios update from evga fixing vrm heat/fan speeds.

 

[Kawarius]

does galax has a model like that for gtx 1080, would it potentially increase power limit and would the twin acx 3.0 coolers of evga handle it fine?
What about fan profiles that need to match/ I did get a bios update from evga fixing vrm heat/fan speeds.

Unknown, haven't had any Nvidia card until my 2080ti, so pascal cards are unknown to me. Would think there are more bioses there aimed at XOC than is available for Turing though.

Just make sure for those doing it with 2080ti that this bios ONLY works with A chips.

 

[the54thvoid]

I have done it with my RTX 2080TI.
There is a patched NVflash version that let's you flash Turing cards.

And for the 2080ti, kfa2/Galax released one of their reference pcb cards with a 300 watt default limit, and 380 watt max limit. This is usually the go to bios for reference pcb overclocking, as this gives a limit even higher than ftw3 (by 7 watts).

Usually the air coolers have a tough time handling the extra heat, but watercooled card I would do it in a heartbeat. Running it myself on my custom loop, and haven't had any issues. With the extra headroom, I hit 1965-1985mhz core without adding anything on core clocks.

Hmm. My MSI Duke has a 111% built in limit. With AB sliders at max power, no core OC, my standard core range is (on Metro Exodus) about 1890-1965.

I wonder if the BIOS flash actually does that much?

 

[dorsetknob]

There is a patched NVflash version that let's you flash Turing cards.

i would suggest you submit that to @W1zzard via PM for verification
Its Something he would be intrested in

 

[londiste]

Hmm. My MSI Duke has a 111% built in limit. With AB sliders at max power, no core OC, my standard core range is (on Metro Exodus) about 1890-1965.
I wonder if the BIOS flash actually does that much?

What does AB tell you about what limits the GPU?
If power limit is triggering, BIOS flash to one with higher power limit will (or, can) help.

 

[er557]

This link is to 1080 strix bios that is voltage /fan/power modded, as in no limits. Your mileage may vary, ensure you have the power phases and the cooling to match,
You may need an updated/recent/patched flasher with -6 command switch, after disabling the gpu in device manager

http://www.mediafire.com/download/22ifgc9yuk72eyg/strix1080xoc_t4.zip

 

[Kawarius]

i would suggest you submit that to @W1zzard via PM for verification
Its Something he would be intrested in

It's a public release, so not hard to get ones hands on. But will do non the less.
TPU has already done a article on the Nvflash too, so it's pretty easy to find.

Hmm. My MSI Duke has a 111% built in limit. With AB sliders at max power, no core OC, my standard core range is (on Metro Exodus) about 1890-1965.

I wonder if the BIOS flash actually does that much?

Depends on what the limits are, the kfa2 bios is 300 watts+27%. So 380 watts. I didn't hit limits on my stock bios until 2070mhz ish. But with the new one, I can manage 2160mhz before hitting powerlimits. For stock clocks/no OC it doesn't do much, but when aiming for 2100 and above, it's nice to have that extra headroom. It all comes down to each chip though. Some needs lot of voltage, some doesn't to hit the same frequency.

 

[er557]

I wonder if the card will unlock without shunt modding, and whether the air cooling can even handle it.

 

[Kawarius]

I wonder if the card will unlock without shunt modding, and whether the air cooling can even handle it.

Can probably be done without shunt mods. Nvidia will probably flip their shit if any companies does it though.
As for aircooing handling it, I, got no clue. I think the 380 watts are doable on a good air cooler, but any higher than that, and water is where it's at. Easier to keep clocks up with water too.

 

[kenkickr]

Luckily my Asus Dual non oc or advanced edition came with a 300A chip so first tried the galax 380w bios. No artifacts but card would stutter a lot even after clearing drivers off and reinstalling afterburner to make sure it wasnt doing anything weird. I then tried the Gigabyte bios that allows 141% and smooth sailing so far. Right now I have an oc of 150+ core and 700+ mem and still playing with it. The lowest drop ive seen so far is 2085 mhz but pretty much stays at 2100 mhz where as with stock bios at these settings it was constantly dropping to 1995 mhz.

 

[er557]

You won't know it's stable until the odd game that causes the pc to instantly reboot due to gpu stability- works fine. Had been benchmarking and testing stability but sometimes issues would creep in, me needing to remove all overclocks completely.

 

[Kawarius]

Luckily my Asus Dual non oc or advanced edition came with a 300A chip so first tried the galax 380w bios. No artifacts but card would stutter a lot even after clearing drivers off and reinstalling afterburner to make sure it wasnt doing anything weird. I then tried the Gigabyte bios that allows 141% and smooth sailing so far. Right now I have an oc of 150+ core and 700+ mem and still playing with it. The lowest drop ive seen so far is 2085 mhz but pretty much stays at 2100 mhz where as with stock bios at these settings it was constantly dropping to 1995 mhz.

Wierd that you had issues with that bios. Know many people who have flashed it without issues.

The gigabyte bios is lower watt than the Galax one BTW, so that might have something to do with it.
260+41%=366 watts
While the galax is:
300+27%=380 watts

 

[kenkickr]

Wierd that you had issues with that bios. Know many people who have flashed it without issues.

The gigabyte bios is lower watt than the Galax one BTW, so that might have something to do with it.
260+41%=366 watts
While the galax is:
300+27%=380 watts

I may try the galax one more time just to make sure.

 

[Kawarius]

I may try the galax one more time just to make sure.

Just go with the gigabyte one if that gives better results. It's only 14 watts, so it won't make a difference unless you bench a lot and push for those last couple of mhz

 

[xkm1948]

My EVGA has 130% power limit. More than enough for me.

 

[kenkickr]

Just go with the gigabyte one if that gives better results. It's only 14 watts, so it won't make a difference unless you bench a lot and push for those last couple of mhz

I didn't put it under water for nothing

 

[Kawarius]

I didn't put it under water for nothing

I see, yeah, then there is no excuse that bios really shows its potential under water.

 

[gerardfraser]

@OP Maybe you could add links to actual GPU's so people can figure out which BIOS to flash to for their particular GPU.
If you have reference PCB and flash custom BIOS you could have less performance just and example.
NON-A vs A Chip

I have Flashed some different RTX 2080 GPU's .On reference PCB boards I have found the Gigabyte to work best on RTX Zotac Amp/EVGA XC OC Ultra
Gaming OC | 3 Fan | 2.5 Slot | 287mm | RGB | 10 Power Phases | 1815 MHz Boost | 245/300 W | Reference PCB | EAN 4719331303594 | PN GV-N2080GAMING OC-8GC

RTX 2080 GPU Boards All Brands
RTX 2080 Ti GPU Boards All Brands

 

[piccolo88]

Hi all,
I am searching for the bios of a 2080 STRIX Advanced (not the OC) Version. By default there are two bios available - (P)erformance and (Q)uiet.
In the database there is only the (P)erformance bios available, while you find both Bios (P&Q) for the 2080 Strix OC.

Is it possible to upload the Quiet bios for the 2080 Strix advanced?

(Background: I backuped my P-Bios but not my Quiet bios and somehow overwrote it while flashing it to a Strix OC bios...

 

[SoNic67]

You may need an updated/recent/patched flasher with -6 command switch, after disabling the gpu in device manager

Can you elaborate or provide a link?

 

[er557]

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-nvflash/

https://www.techpowerup.com/download/nvidia-nvflash-with-board-id-mismatch-disabled/